


Come Up with a Smiling Face

by Gaftenpelle



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: 1x20, AU, Alternate Ending, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 02:59:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6735169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaftenpelle/pseuds/Gaftenpelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You find her not long after she falls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You find her not long after she falls.

 

Her suit is stained and torn, but her face is free of any blemish or pain - peaceful, as if she's sleeping. The breeze makes shapes of the light on the tips of the tall grass. Kara could very well be asleep, enjoying the serenity of the scene.

 

The tactical team that accompanied you to the site stands back out of respect or grief; it doesn't matter to you either way.

 

She fell to a wheat field in Kansas. A part of you wants to find it ironic, to tease her about following in her baby cousin's footsteps. But there are no words to be spoken between the two of you now.

 

That part of you belonged to your sister; it still does.

 

_"I want you to have a good life."_

 

You lift Kara from the dust, cradle her close.

 

She's cold.

 

_"Promise me."_

 

The grass that sways around you is the same color as her hair; you brush it behind her ears, the way she likes to wear it.

 

You don't want to think about her in past tenses. You can't. Not while she's still in your arms.

 

Only sleeping. Only resting.

 

  
So you stay with her.

 

You rock the two of you back and forth in an effort to hold back the tears that inevitably rise to the surface. You turn away. You won't let them fall on her face.

 

She settles under your chin. You rest your head on hers, trying to breathe in - to remember, to hold onto - the faint traces of almond from the shampoo she always steals from you. Instead, you get a nose-full of the wheat kernels scattered in her hair.

 

_Where did her strength go_ , you wonder, _when the time came?_ Did your yellow sun take back what it had given to her? Or is her power still trapped inside?

 

You let the thoughts fall away into the breeze. Near the horizon, a bird swoops low and disappears into the maze of gold that stretches on for miles all around.

 

The world could turn circles around you, but this place would remain still, untouched by time.

 

It's a good place for her to rest. She'll sleep. She'll be safe.

 

You've always wanted that kind of impenetrable safety for her - more than anything. In a way, she's granted your only wish. Your own shooting star, twice fallen to the earth.

 

It's your turn to grant her own wish; one made to a dying star a thousand lightyears away. You press your lips to the crown of her head and whisper over her.

 

" _Gem urvish nimu, Kara Zor-El ni._ "

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title taken from Edmund Vance Cooke's poem 'How Did You Die?'
> 
> I'm no expert, but the text at the end should translate to "Be at peace."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Felt the need to add this.

You feel, for a moment, that a great weight has been lifted off your chest.

 

It fades into normalcy within a few moments. You've been waking up in the middle of the night often, but something has changed this time. You can't quite put your finger on it; the air is charged with something different and yet familiar.

 

Instead of waiting for sleep to claim you again, you flick the covers off and trudge to the window. The balcony might be better, but that _something_ pushes you away before you can make the decision for yourself.

 

Midvale stretches out below you, all silence and street lamps in the early hours. Even the ocean seems to have stilled; the sound of the waves on the shore is little more than a whisper on a distant wind. You can just make out the light of the stars reflected in the water - little pinpoints of worlds thousands of lightyears away. You manage to stop the sigh that wants to escape.

 

The whole world holds its breath.

 

  
" _Alex._ "

 

  
Her voice is like thunder, like bells; like a storm, like a song. You haven't heard it in sixty-three years, five months, and seventeen days.

 

Your heart tries to leap out of your chest as you turn to its source.

 

Kara was made of a brighter kind of stardust; you've always known that. It seems the universe has finally agreed with you.

 

Your sister hovers a few feet above the balcony, glowing like the night sky behind her.

 

You tread lightly to the threshold, wringing your hands into your nightshirt like a frightened child. She touches down delicately.

 

Her eyes and her smile are just the same as they always were. Stardust.

 

"You lived. Just like you promised."

 

Something like a laugh bubbles up inside of you, but all that you can manage is a half-strangled sob. You're able to whisper her name - only once. It comes out of you rough and choked, like you've forgotten.

 

You wouldn't. You never could, even if you wanted to.

 

  
You fall willingly into her open arms.

 

Those sixty-three years, five months, and seventeen days all fade away.

 

Something trickles down into your hair, and you find that her tears do not have the same courtesy for you that yours did for her. They mingle with your own on your cheeks, and you can only cling to her tighter.

 

"I've missed you," you whisper.

 

"I never left you."

 

Somehow, you know.

 

The two of you part to lean over the edge of the balcony, listening to the night sounds. Her presence at your side dredges up springs of emotion from long-neglected wells.

 

"I'm sorry, Kara," you stutter, sucking in shallow, ragged breaths. "It shouldn't have come to that."

 

"It was what I came here to do," she answers simply. Her hand is warm in yours.

 

"But you-" you cut yourself off, ashamed. "I could have done something. That can't have been it."

 

"You did everything you could," she assures you. There's a long pause before she speaks again. "You sent me home. There's nothing more I could've asked of you."

 

You nod and sniffle for what you hope is the last time. Kara straightens and leans in to press a kiss to your hair.

 

"C'mon," she murmurs against your temple. "It's time to go."

 

You furrow your eyebrows. She looks inside, and you follow her gaze to your bed. A head of silver rests on the pillows, silent and still.

 

"My family." The thought of leaving them weighs heavy on your shoulders.

 

"They'll be okay," she assures you. "They'll live. Just like you did."

 

"I didn't, really," you confess. "Not without you."

 

Kara's eyes are towards the sea - the seabirds, more like. Her childlike fascination never left her, even after she learned to fly for herself. She turns, and her gaze meets yours.

 

"That's what life was about, I think," she smiles. "Living in spite of the challenges."

 

She takes your hand, tugging you gently away from the balcony railing.

 

"What's all this about, then?" you gesture to the space around you, to the flowing Kryptonian gown your sister wears.

 

She laughs. "Haven't quite figured it out yet."

 

You crack a smile at that.

 

She floats above the balcony, tugging you just a little bit closer.

 

"Kara, I can't-" you start, looking down. You find your feet hovering a few inches over the floor.

 

She smiles even brighter as you join her in the air. "There you go."

 

The two of you rise in tandem, and the glittering night sky begins to drown out the lights of the city below. A great peace rolls through you, not unlike the waves of the sea.

 

  
Your shooting star is rising.

You'll follow her wherever she goes.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I realized I'd unintentionally mirrored a scene from someone else's story. Dialogue changed.


End file.
